And the worst part about that title is it becomes just as true every time a new day begins…
Why is adoption essential?
Generative AI isn’t a futuristic concept anymore and it isn’t just something techies in dark basements ponder over. It now plays a hand in almost every software system you can use today from smart suggestions on Netflix to cop-out, lazy and useless ebay descriptions (that last one is personal). Even the UK Gov says it will affect every industry. Realistically at this point if you aren’t using it you’re falling behind in developing an essential competency for a long and successful career and/or starting your own business. BUT WAIT! It’s just another calculator/tractor/lightbulb/literallyanytechadvancement isn’t it? Well no. Not really… Yes those things were huge advancements and yes they helped improve various industries or sectors.
The thing with generative AI is that in a world where most industries and sectors are governed by data it has that transformative power for all of them rather than just a niche. That’s where the real power lies – sales, marketing, product development, data analysis, outbound, inbound, tech support. I could go on but you get the idea.
The risk of ignoring it…
Time to don the cape of captain obvious. If you ignore it is unlikely that it will ‘take’ your job as many of the naysayers would have you believe. However, in my humble opinion someone who can use AI better than you can almost certainly will (there are of course some exceptions).
Example: I own a business and you as my employee get paid £2000 a month to do business analysis – let’s call the sum of your fantastic efforts ‘100 work’ a month. Why on earth would I continue to pay you that same £2000 if someone else can come in and do it twice as fast with the assistance of an AI tool – I could get ‘200 work’ for the same money? Make it make sense?!
To avoid the internet getting cross at my overly simple analogy I’ll point out that I said *assistance* of an AI tool. If they were just copying and pasting outputs of an AI tool then I could fire them and just pay for the tool itself . If all you do is copy and paste AI outputs then I’ve got bad news for you – you’re adding literally 0 value and you will be found out and then you will be replaced by AI. We live in a world where almost all businesses jump at the chance to save literally any money.
(Kind of) First mover advantage.
So yeah at this point I think it would be pretty silly to call it a true first mover advantage. But fear not…
You’ve kind of missed that boat if you you aren’t using it already. Although chances are if you are reading this you have, which makes this more applicable. Even if you haven’t you’re still going to be ahead of a lot of people. My advice? What drives value in the industry you want to work in? It’s not a trick question and there are lots of right answers. When you can define what value looks like, work backwards to see if an AI tool/tools can help you create that value more quickly/to a higher standard or solve the problem of creating it for someone else.
Future proofing your career or business.
Really embracing AI isn’t really about staying current. It’s about staying competitive. Learning to use AI thoughtfully and to enhance your own talents/skills is the way forward. It also makes a great tutor if you want to learn a new skill. If you apply a growth mindset to the whole thing you’ll help yourself in the long run whether you pursue a career or take an entrepreneurial leap.
If you’ve got any questions you can contact me here or connect with me on Linkedin.
